The Old House
by rianterren
Summary: Sirius Black finds himself looking in the window of the life and people he didn't choose to leave behind twelve years ago. He can remember the old house perfectly, but he isn't prepared to face the changes that happened without him. (If continued this story will dive farther into Sirius' life at Hogwarts and into the lives of the two people he never wanted to let down.)


The old house, with its wildly overgrown garden was silent, secretive, as it sat in the darkness of the little town of Bellnau. From the front windows, he could just make out the shadows of its inhabitants who were silhouetted against the barely drawn drapes. Every once in a while he could see one of them pass the window or hear a hushed voice speak very softly into the quiet night. He could remember everything about the old house, from the main room to the attic, but he could barely remember the people because he was sure that the two he left behind twelve years ago had changed as much as he had.

Silently, Sirius Black squeezed through the fence that kept the front yard from reaching the sidewalk. The brambles stuck to his heavy black fur, pulling out tufts and causing him to wince in pain as the sharp branches nicked his skin. As he got closer to the window, Sirius was no longer as eager to see his old life as he once was. Instead a hallow ache filled his chest causing a pain worse than the brambles ever wish they could. He slowed and allowed his eyes to focus on the dully lit room in front of him. Sirius swallowed the lump that rose in his throat and stared into the eyes of a life he never got to enjoy. The walls of the room were now a different color, he remembered the day he helped paint them grey. They had decided to attack the project as muggles and at the end of the day more paint had landed on the floor and on each other than it had on the walls. There was also new pictures hanging on those walls and sitting on the fireplace mantle of memories that Sirius didn't get to share. Most were of her and a smaller version of her, the two moving gracefully in the frames. Some were of just the small version of her, each picture showing her age over the years. Sirius could just recognize one picture of a small child with honey colored curls poking from beneath the winter cap. She pointed to the snowflakes that glittered around her as she grasped onto a hand that Sirius knew was his own. That day had been the last of his good days that he spent with Eloise and Seren.

To the right of the fireplace sat a now yellowish chair. In its prime the chair had been the brightest of white. Eloise sat stiffly in her chair one arm draped over the arm rest and the other up, holding a book to her nose. Occasionally, her free had would flip the page or mess with her blonde hair that was now shorter than he ever remembered it being, plus he could see a few glittering strands of grey, despite her barely being over the age of 33. He wondered what could cause those hairs to change on her and remembered guiltily everything he had ever done. He had never deserved Eloise and what he had put her through proved it.

On the other side of the fireplace sat his own chair. He could remember the day the two of them picked it up from the muggle furniture store down the road. She had fallen in love with the chair, with its high back and handsome stitching and while Sirius could care less about the furniture that sat in their house he had bought the navy blue chair anyways, just because he loved to see her happy. The sight of that chair caused his heart to swell in his chest, their first piece of furniture they ever purchased together was still in her house. Sitting in his armchair, was the small child in the picture, only the child was no longer small, nor was she still a child. She had her legs draped over one side of the chair and her head rested against the other. The honey colored curls have seemed to darken and straighten out over the years, causing her to look more like the Black side of the family instead of Eloise's. Like Eloise she sat with her nose in a book, but unlike Eloise, the girl couldn't keep quiet. Every few moments she would lift her book from her face, say something to her mother, smile crookedly, and return to the same page. Sirius noticed that she flipped the page every few minutes instead of seconds like her mother.

"Seren, please" Eloise spoke cutting off her daughter, who was now speaking rather quickly about her upcoming year at Hogwarts. Seren sighed lightly, shifting in the navy blue chair and dramatically flipping the page of her book, causing Eloise's lips to lift in a smile.

The two sat in silence once more, with Sirius leaning dangerously close to the window in an attempt to feel included. He sat at that window until his limbs went stiff and the dew began to form on his fur, but he didn't – wouldn't move until the two of them went off to bed. An owl hooted somewhere in the distance and then once more as it drew closer to the house. Sirius glanced into the sky to find a barred owl landing gently in one of the grizzled trees. It black eyes stared curiously at Sirius. Focusing on the bird, Sirius realized that one eye was lighter in color and had various white spots resembling night sky. The owl seemed to be studying Sirius with his one good eye as well, until deciding that he didn't like a rather large black dog in his yard. Letting out a low screech and ruffling up his feathers, the owl opened up it medium sized wings to take flight. Allowing another screech to escape its beak, the owl swooped from the tree with opened talons headed straight for Sirius's face. He ran from the window and towards the fence once more. The owl chased him until he was through the bars and out of the yard. Sirius turned and let out a growl, but the owl landing on top of the fence just ruffled its feathers threateningly, it's blinded eye with the universe inside of it and it's good eye refusing to lift from him. The owl was a better guard dog than actual dogs.

"C'mon you silly bird!" Seren yelled from the porch, the light from the house now emptying through the front door and into the yard. Sirius took a few more steps back, insuring that he was well hidden in the shadows. "You leave Mrs. Donahue's cat alone! C'mon now, Atlas!" She called again and the bird swooped at Sirius one last time before turning to land on Seren's arm. He nipped at her ear sweetly before the two returned inside.

Seren pulled the door closed behind her, leaving Sirius cold and alone in the street. He turned around and headed back up the road. Little Winging wasn't too far from here and Sirius needed to check on one more person before continuing his travels to Hogwarts. He didn't look back as he left the old house behind him, perhaps one day it would greet him back with open arms.

* * *

 _A/N: As many of you know, I usually write Hunger Games fanfiction, but I found myself re-reading Harry Potter in the past week and this little story popped into my head. I don't know if I'll be continuing this at all, but if I do I plan on focusing on Sirius' and Eloise relationship and their time at Hogwarts together. I also want to dive into Seren's time at Hogwarts as well, there's something about her that I like. This prequel takes place just before Prisoner of Azkaban and if I continue, with stick to that story line somewhat._

 _I know I don't post at all anymore, but I hope at some point to change that. All of you have been nothing but kind to me in my absence and I appreciate that so much._

 _Please let me know what you think, because this is my first Harry Potter fanfic, so while it may be a little OOC, I did thoroughly enjoy writing this short little piece._

 _(Hopefully my writing is better than my old works, but I barely proofread this so bear with me.)_

 _Thank you all and again, please let me know what you think!_


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